Human rights activist and SaharaReporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, has sued the State Security Service (SSS), aka Department of State Services (DSS), Meta (owners of Facebook), and X Corp. (formerly Twitter) at the Federal High Court in Abuja, challenging what he described as unconstitutional censorship of his social media accounts.
In a suit filed on his behalf by his lawyer, Tope Temokun, Sowore asked the court to restrain the DSS from directing global social media platforms to delete his posts, including one in which he referred to President Bola Tinubu as a “criminal.”
“These suits were filed to challenge the unconstitutional censorship initiated by the DSS/SSS against Sowore’s accounts maintained with Meta and X.
“The lawsuit states categorically that this is about the survival of free speech in Nigeria. If state agencies can dictate to global platforms who may speak and what may be said, then no Nigerian is safe, their voices will be silenced at the whim of those in power.
“Censorship of political criticism is alien to democracy. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in Section 39, guarantees every citizen the right to freedom of expression, without interference. No security agency, no matter how powerful, can suspend or delete those rights.
“Meta and X must also understand this: when they bow to unlawful censorship demands, they become complicit in the suppression of liberty. They cannot hide behind neutrality while authoritarianism is exported onto their platforms.
“Our prayers before the Court are simple:
That the SSS has no power in law to censor Nigerians on social media; That Meta and X must not lend their platforms as tools of repression; and That our client’s rights and by extension, the rights of all Nigerians, be fully protected against unlawful censorship”, a statement signed by Temokun on Tuesday, said.
It called on all lovers of freedom, journalists, human rights defenders, and the Nigerian people to stand firm.
“Today it is Sowore; tomorrow it may be you.
“This struggle is not about personalities. It is about principle. And we shall resist every attempt to turn Nigeria into a digital dictatorship”, the statement stated.
